Umar Farooq Zahoor wins defamation case against Norwegian right-wing tabloid

KARACHI: A court in Pakistan has ruled that chief Editor of Norway’s extreme-right tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Rolf John Widerøe deliberately defamed noted Dubai-based Pakistani origin businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor and ran a long defamation campaign against him in order to harm him. The court has also ordered the duo to pay Rs30 million in damages as well as the legal fees to Zahoor and his lawyers.

Deciding on the long-running defamation case brought by Zahoor against the VG Chief Editor and reporter Widerøe, Judge Abid Zubair, Additional District and Session court in Ferozwala, ruled that it was abundantly clear through evidence that Widerøe and the VG Chief Editor defamed the plaintiff by publishing a false· statement through the electronic media “and the said statement has injured the reputation of the plaintiff and also tends to lower him in the estimation of others to ridicule”.

The court ruling has ordered that both the defendants should pay “Rs30 million as damages to the plaintiff including litigation fee”.

The ruling has been made ex-parte because both the chief editor of Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Widerøe refused to engage with the court despite several requests, summons and reminders. Late last year, both were declared as proclaimed offenders by the same court in Pakistan over their deliberate failure to appear before the court for publishing a false and defamatory story on businessman Zahoor.

The judgement noted that Zahoor “has an impeccable reputation in different business and social circles for his businesslike social and philanthropy work as well as also enjoys respect in the diplomatic community even he earlier represented as Ambassador at Large for other NGOs. It is significant to mention here that the plaintiff has also provided energy solutions to different African countries and also closed transactions to the tune of almost 5-billion dollars in the last one decade in different countries. The plaintiff has also been awarded different honours for his work and has also the privilege of advising the Royal Family in financial discipline”.

The judgement added: “The defendants (VG Chief Editor and reporter Rolf John Widerøe) in collusion with each other have been running a malicious campaign against the plaintiff (Umar Farooq Zahoor) since long for his religion and race. It will not be out of place to mention here that the aforementioned VG tabloid is known for publishing anti¬Islam and anti-Pakistan content and the plaintiff has been the victim of the defendants since long as they are pressurising and blackmailing the plaintiff."

“It is very much clear beyond any doubt that the defendants have always been raising false allegations against the plaintiff without any proof and the same is defamatory. It has also been observed that the defendants always report one-sided which further reflects their ill-intent, malafide and such practice is also against the norms of fair journalism and fair reporting.”

Judge Abid Zubair, Additional District and Session court in Ferozwala, had declared Widerøe and the chief editor as proclaimed offenders through court declaration published in leading English dailies of Pakistan –after the failure of Widerøe and the VG Editor to earlier notices, sent and served in Norway at the address of the tabloid. Both of them refused to appear before the court and failed to provide any evidence to back up their libellous story after the court issued summons in November last year. Both Widerøe and the chief editor spoke about the Pakistan litigation against them in the Norway media but refused to deal with the Pakistani court orders.

Dubai-based business tycoon Zahoor sued Verdens Gang (VG) and its reporter Widerøe for publishing a defamatory and vindictive article against him, in which facts were concealed to harm his reputation and services for Pakistan in the form of bringing millions of dollars in direct foreign investment to Pakistan.

Zahoor’s lawyers had accused the right-wing tabloid of targeting the businessman “with malicious intent for the last fifteen years by publishing defamatory articles” and for “witch hunting” since long and that the main reason for orchestrating this false campaign is "islamophobia, racism and your personal score against our client”. Zahoor’s lawyers highlighted that the tabloid’s personalized campaign was biased and Islamophobic as it has deliberately hidden key facts while attacking Zahoor. It rejected allegations of fraud by Zahoor in the Nordea Bank Norway fraud case.

However, Norway’s extreme-right tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) Chief of Staff Andreas Arnseth said that tabloid newspaper had no plan to pay any compensation.

According to a report published in Journalisten magazine Arnseth said: “We do not recognise the proceedings in Pakistan, and dispute that they have jurisdiction in this case. Nor have we been served with the judgment, as international law requires.”